Rare gray day for Helio

Yes, occasionally, a bit of gray intrudes upon the perpetual sunshine exuded by Helio Castroneves.

"Today was one of those days where there seemed to be like 700 laps to go," the Indianapolis 500 winner said with a sigh after a trying weekend left him in 11th place in the A.J. Foyt 225.

"It was one of those days where you just want to go home and that's it, and come back next year."

It should be noted Castroneves said this with a smile, though there was little to grin about. A crash in qualifying forced him to start dead last Sunday. Then engine issues left him to muddle through and have difficulty catching anyone.

"Unfortunately, we were never able to find a good direction," Castroneves said.

Not first, still not bad: Danica Patrick has placed in the top five in every race after her first this year, following her third-place finish in the Indy 500 with a fifth-place showing Sunday. Just as surely, she has crept into the series championship discussion, sitting fourth with 139 points.

"I feel like we really are becoming a championship contender," Patrick said. "I really thought we had a good shot at winning, but those cars ahead of me, they just were strong, period."

Touch and go: Ryan Briscoe had the unenviable task of waiting to pass struggling teammate Castroneves and sending him a lap back, an inevitability that occurred on Lap 109.

"I was trying to be patient," Briscoe said. "It's hard because you get in traffic and you start following guys that are slower, you lose the front and everyone starts catching up."

Smoking: It was a rough day for Tony Kanaan. He took an anti-inflammatory shot for a rib injury before the race and shot into the lead for the first 25 laps before fading. Eventually his car began smoking on pit road on Lap 133, ending his day. Kanaan's Twitter post: "On fire but not the right way to be on fire."